Maple Story Facts & References

Hello! I found this thread and I am simply adoring all the lore and new knowledge I've acquired from it!
I hope one day this series can continue, for now it seems I am a little late to the party.

I saw you requested some information for the Greek symbols for the Dragon Blood skill animation. As someone who speaks some Greek (I'm of Greek descent and my grandpa really tried to make me learn but ultimately English and Spanish took all the space in my brain, but I digress) I looked into the symbols and they do not have a specific meaning. Please see below my findings.



We will start here, as I tried looking at it from different ways and only a few of the letter combinations made sense; I've input the symbols into Google translate so I could observe their English alphabet equivalents at the same time and this is what shows up:


(original image is a bit large so I added it as a thumbnail)

When I read it, it does not make any sense at all, the question mark pertains to a symbol I could not fully understand or make out. If someone has better information that would be awesome! However this is what I have managed to make out at this time. I will look up some more information in my spare time and if I find anything new I'll come back and make a note.

 

I was looking at the circle from several angles, because, well it is a circle, so when you read the characters usually you would you read them left to right clockwise and upright (if that makes any sense!). I also tried looking at the characters counterclockwise, but then some of the letters would be "wrong side up" which would make less sense.

The game has a lot of Greek culture embedded into it (even with Roman themes which we know from history to be a "you can copy my classwork but don't make it obvious" situation) and back when I first discovered Orbis I felt incredibly happy to see some of my own heritage in it so I always paid attention to the letters.

As a side note: One thing that was mentioned and called to me was the word: ΧΛΟΥΔ. I read some of the theories about the 'X' character being a 'C' or 'K' sound. If you took the word CLOUD and directly changed the letters it would look like this (but it should be: KΛΟΟΔ as in greek there is no "au" sound like in cloud), however phonetically it should be thought of X as a 'CH' or 'KH" sound (back of the tongue up against the roof of the mouth and blowing air to produce the sound). It would read: CHLOOD and be pronounced khlood.

Just wanted to add that bit.

 

To add on to this, it could also be a double meaning with "cunning" and how it's pronounced/written in Korean.

The Korean wiki suggests Ellinia could also be named after a typographic term: "a linea" (pilcrow/paragraph mark).

 

Thanks for the passion for still discussing, but as I'm no longer active in game and forum nowadays, I don't plan to update this thread anymore.

 

Any idea on what Ulu was based on?

 

Wow this is fascinating!

My favorite thread so far for sure, you put so much effort in this and it's amazing :O
I'm very happy I found this gem during SC, please keep posting :3

BTW, a small note regarding to Part II, dungeon ancient head tomb:

I think that it isn't a reference to Mexico, but rather a reference to Angkor Wat (a 12th century temple complex in Cambodia) .
To be specific, I think it is more likely to reference the stone carved Buddha heads in Bayon Temple (one of the temples in Angkor Wat), as seen below:


Judging by the right ear and the style of the head (+ the jungle looking green stuff coming out of it), it's more likely to be the middle one in the picture above, or this one:


Fun fact: My DK's IGN was based on Angkor Wat, and my Bucc's on another famous temple in Turkey :3

 

I had fun reading this, ikr they put a lot of effort into adding details to the game so it's always great to see where things come from

 

This thread makes me feel like traveling and learning about different cultures and knowledge. I can't wait to log in to Royals to find these interesting things

 

Hi. Found this thread while searching for a photo of the original baseball cap equipment from Maple Story. Realizing I have a large sum to contribute to the thread, and was surprised to see my browser still had saved my MapleRoyal account login info from 2018.
I've written about this many times. I write about Maple Story a lot. It is a very unique game, not just compared to MMOs, but in the entire history of gaming. There has always been very little info about the earliest years of development available in English, so it has always been very mysterious to me since I first joined the Beta while I was in middle school in 2005. Over the years, I've come to realize and learn a lot about Maple Story and Korean gaming of the 90's.

Maple Story wears its original inspiration on its sleeve quite blatantly. It was directly inspired by the Wonder Boy / Monster World / Adventure Island series, though I've never heard anyone besides myself talk about this.
The only reason it is not more widely known, is because there is little to no crosstalk between the maple story fandom and classic WESTONE / SEGA gaming fandom at large.

I'm glad to see this thread, giving me an opening to share this. Here is something I wrote in 2020. If you have information to add, please do!:
________
The development of the original Maple Story is shrouded in mystery. As one of the longest running online games, with each expansion over the course of 15 years comes new staff, art designers, etc. I’m talking about the foundational content of Maple Story from the early 00’s. The solid bedrock of this MMO that many players have a fond nostalgia of, to the point of creating several “Classic” MS private servers.

There are no credits for the initial release of MS that I was able to find. It is a somewhat well known fact that the sprite artist also worked on Ping Pals for DS, their style of pixel art was unmistakable and it has since been verified. I’ve always wondered who these people are. It is the initial release of MS that bears all the evidence of a Wonder Boy game, and there is a lot of it. All of this is my own research. The community surrounding Maple Story in the English speaking world doesn't seem to discuss this sort of thing. Not a lot of crosstalk with the more heady side of game-likers, or fellows who grew up playing the Wonder Boy / Adventure Island series.

I’m here to point out the similarities I’ve found, but there’s more waiting to be unearthed. Since the development of this game is entirely unknown to the english speaking web from what I’ve seen, there’s so much that still needs to be found. I am very familiar with the areas, music, and characters in classic Maple Story, and I’ve dabbled in the Wonder Boy franchise enough to see the similarities. A lot of my examples are from the TurboGrafx16 CD version of Dynastic Hero, because I’ve played that one the most. It’s basically the CD version of Wonder Boy in Monster World. The Wonder Boy / Adventure Island / Monster World series is already known for its confusing and inconsistent naming conventions.
I’m assuming if you’re reading this you at least know a smidgeon about these two series. Now, on with my evidence!

The mechanics, from the cadence of character movement, the jump arc and speed, down to the exact motions of crouching+attacking, and the way coins drop are all lifted 1:1 from Wonder Boy in Monster World. This is the most obvious stuff, which puts Maple Story into “Monster World Clone” territory. I’m here to show that Maple Story is secretly somewhat an unofficial game in the series. Images of classic Maple Story gameplay are pretty annoying to find. Most players in Maple Story are flashing all over the screen at this point, but your starting character is just…. A Wonderful Boy.
Here’s an image of the very specific crouch-attack.



Also quite obvious is the monsters. You have snails, snakes, mushrooms in big and small variants all with identical footprint and often similar coloration or shading.


(adding this for the Maple Royals Forum)
Now, if you are not at all familiar with the Wonder Boy in Monster World series, it was released on many different consoles and had many different games.
Here is gameplay footage that anyone who played classic maple story and crossed through lith harbor after departing from Maple Island will recognize immediately


The quantity of ports and releases is very convoluted and confusing. It has a fair amount of fans in the US, Brazil, and Japan. Mostly SEGA or NEC console owners, since most of the best games were released for platforms like Genesis/Mega Drive, Game Gear, and Turbografx16/PC Engine. There are lots of videos on the subject, and Retronauts podcast covered the entire convoluted series release timeline. Here's a couple random youtube videos I pulled up for you guys.



I have no doubt that one or several of these games were localized and released in Korea. Here is a page about the Korean Localized SEGA Genesis consoles:
https://segaretro.org/Mega_Drive_consoles_in_South_Korea

(that is the end of the section I added for this forum. On to more comparisons and info from my original writeup!)

Then we have the beloved title music:


This track from Dynastic Hero - File Select / Village of Alsedo , sounds like many of the early Maple Story tracks, like Ellinia or Lith Harbor areas.


Then this area song sounds a bit like Perion or an adjacent dungeon area.


There’s enough similarities for now to at least prove MS is an mmo clone of Monster World.
Recently I learned something that cemented these games as belonging to the same series, at least in China.
The name of Maple Story in Chinese territories is Adventure Island Online. The title logo is yellow with a palm tree. (For those who do not know, Adventure Island is the same game as Wonder Boy, but renamed when it was licensed by Hudson to be ported to the Famicom/NES. So Adventure Island and Wonder Boy are the same thing. See, I told you it was confusing!)
Chinese Adventure Island Online logo

Japanese and US title screens for Adventure Island Famicom/NES ... Similar font *and* that palm tree is undeniable!


Here is a video about Wonder Boy & Adventure Island. Though the relation may already have been covered in the above video covering the entire Wonder Boy series:


I’m just sharing this here to spread awareness. Maple Story gets mentioned often (though not often enough IMO hehe) but never is it noted as having anything to do with Monster World. And now, perhaps someone needs to edit a wiki somewhere to include Adventure Island Online. :j

... If you don't quite get it from the writeup, just play the game, like Dynastic Hero, or any of the Monster World games. Once you have it in your hands and get the gamefeel it will become very clear... As a Maplestory player, I suggest emulating the Monster World games and using the same keyboard control setup you use for maplestory! Or buy one of the newer games like the Dragon's Trap Remake, it still plays the same, so it's like maplestory with acoustic covers and hand drawn art!

 

^ this is my favorite forum post ever. this stuff should be added to the maplestory wikipedia

 

I was told to post this here, but it appears Chao's battle room might just be the small tree stump we all know from the HP Quest

 

With more spare time recently, I've decided to reupdate this to unleash every info that's been kept in my data folder since 5 years ago. This should be the last update while every other OSMS content has been contributed by others.

Part 8: Singapore & Malaysia

Spoiler

Both CBD and Boat Quay Town are based on the same location in Singapore. The backgrounds are as well as based on real life buildings. Below is the list:

Victoria Theatre and Concert Hall, and statue of Sir Thomas Stamford Bingley Raffles.


Esplanade—Theatres on the Bay


Tang Plaza


(From left to right)
HSBC Tower, Maybank Tower, One Raffles Place Tower One, UOB Plaza, Six Battery Road, and Republic Plaza.

Trend Zone Metropolis is based in Kuala Lumpur (KL) in Malaysia. Below is the list of real life buildings:

KL Railway Station


Archway gate of Petaling Street


Independence Square


Berjaya Times Square


(From left to right)
Maybank Tower, KL Tower, and Petronas Twin Towers.


Kampung Village is based on Kampung Baru or any traditional Malay house.


Fantasy Theme Park is based on the Genting Highlands old theme park. The entrance is the Genting SkyWay Cable Car.


Genting Grand Hotel




Old theme park with various facilities.

Part 9: Mushroom Shrine & Showa

Spoiler

"Zipangu" is an old name of Japan. It's origin from "Cipangu" which was how Marco Polo transcribed the name of Japan during his travels to Asia in the 13th century.


Upon arriving Mushroom Shrine, you'll see this board and it was translated as:
ようこそ = Welcome
キノコ神社 = Mushroom Shrine
カニングシティ = Canning City (Kerning City)
工事中 = under construction

Not sure why "Kerning City under construction" is written on the board. But these are my guesses:
In the early days of JMS, there was no NPC Spinel the World Tour. Mushroom Shrine was only accessible by NPC "Perry (ペリー)" at the top of Kerning City construction crane. Perhaps this is the reason why the construction of Kerning City is written on the board.

(Photo taken via ssabi's post)


Food stalls are often found during Japanese festivals that are sponsored by local shrines.


Newspaper Hat is based on an origami samurai helmet.


Cloud/Night Fox are based on Fox Spirit (妖狐).
Flaming Raccoon are based on Bake-danuki (化け狸).
Both are famous for their ability to disguise themselves as humans by placing a leaf on their head to perform the transformation. Which plays the important animation hint in Showa mobs later.


Paper Lantern Ghost are based on Chōchin'obake (提灯お化け).
Kappa (河童) uses cucumber as a weapon, as this is their favorite food.
Tengu (天狗) is a legendary creature in Japanese mythology.


The white triangle on Ghost's head is called "Tenka (天冠)" and used for Japanese funeral clothing.


The little statue in the background is known as Jizō (地蔵). It was often found by roadsides, cemeteries, or temples. Jizō was often prayed for protection or blessings.


歴代わ医者さん = Doctors of the past
The photo in Showa Plastic Surgery showed the surgery NPC from different town with (from left to right): Denma the Owner (Henesys), Dr. Feeble (Henesys), Franz the Owner (Orbis), and finally Hikekuro (Showa) himself.


火狸金融 = Flaming Raccoon Financial
It referred to Japanese Yakuza usually having a financial company to provide loan services with high interest (loan shark).


The sea wave print on the truck is "The Great Wave off Kanagawa (神奈川沖浪裏)" by artist Hokusai.


Both Female Boss (Anego) and Showa Hideout BGM are inspired from the movie "Kill Bill Vol. 1." The reference character is "O-Ren Ishii" and the soundtrack is "Battle without Honor or Humanity." Here you can listen to and compare both soundtracks.

Kill Bill soundtrack:


Maple Story BGM:



It's probably a coincidence, but reusing Bain which was originally from lava habitat to Showa is due to their appearance being similar to Tosa Inu (土佐犬). A Japanese fighting dog with highly aggressive and loyal personalities. It's often favored by Yakuza for security purposes.


喧嘩 (kenka) = Fighting
上等 (joutou) = Excellence
It means "Bring it on!" or "Wanna fight? I’m in!" This phrase is provocative and often used by Japanese gangster culture.


The top head marking from The Boss is actually the south region of the Japan map.


After the Bodyguard B is defeated, next spawn The Boss with the flaming effect same as Flaming Raccoon.


Once The Boss is defeated, the animation will finally revealed The Boss was actually disguised by a Flaming Raccoon.

Regarding the dead animation, there's a censored version of Showa Town human mobs in CMS/GMS (pre bigbang). The mobs received the same treatment of dead animation revealing they are disguised by Fox & Raccoon. You can watch the comparison between both versions in this video.



The statues in boss room been bothering me for so long and I always wonder is there any reference for this? There's also certain text below the statues but I couldn't find any related info from this.Perhaps these are just random statues created by the developer?


Also, there's hell bunch of real life posters in Showa. Wonder if someone is able to find the relevant reference.

For more extra info of Showa and weapon references in Armory. Have a look on another post make by Inugami with detailed info.

Real life reference from another thread
Taiwan
Floating Market

 

Return of the King!
Thanks for upload :3

 

Awesome stuff, great read!
Also I noticed while reading (since who actually goes there in game) that Boswell fields in Omega sector are probably named after Roswell, a town in the state of New Mexico.

 

Thanks for the new info! I did some research and found out it was based on the Roswell UFO incident during 1947.


It was an incident of a military balloon crash of the United States Air Force. After recovering the debris, the United States Army announced they found a "flying disc." However, this announcement was retracted within a day. Restating the crash object was a common weather balloon.

People believe the retraction is an attempt to cover up the existence of "flying discs." Despite the lack of evidence, this became the basis of UFO conspiracy theories.

Henceforth, the town of Roswell promotes itself as a destination for UFO-associated tourism.

(Alien-themed signage, street light, and UFO museum in Roswell.)

The crashed UFO in the background is hinting at this incident.

 

Nice! There's also at least one but probably more TV shows about it. Makes me wonder where they got the name for Kulan fields from.

 

I noticed a few days ago a model(?) picture on top of 2nd room's portal at CWKPQ.
It's a real person so it feels like pictures at Showa, a bit uncanny/strange.
had to screenshot a video because I'm not doing CWKPQ today.